Device



A. A. FRYER. SANDING DEVICE.

' APPLICATION FILED MAR.6.1917- RENEWED NOV. 23,1918.

mwfiw Patented May 27,1919.

' ill ALVA A. FBYER, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

SANDING DEVICE.

i1,3 5,08fi.

Application filed March 6, 1917, Serial No. 152,497.

[0 all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALVA A. Farm, at citizen of the United States,residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson, State of Missouri,have invented certain new 3 and useful Improvements in Sanding Devices,of which the following is a full and exact specification.

The present invention relates to means for feeding sand from sand domesor boxes and the like, and aims to provide an improved construction ofsuch means which will operate effectively on the vacuum or su-ctlonfeeding principle to produce a proper and uniform feeding of the sand.To this end a device is provided having a minimum number of parts allositioned outside the sand box or dome an presenting an openunobstructed passage for the flow of the sand. It is also an object todevise a construction to which access may be readily had to any part forcleaning, whenever necessary, with a minimum of trouble and delay andwithout removing the attachment.

A special feature of improvement is in relation to the arrangement andconstruction of the air nozzle for protecting the same against sandaction as well as for affording access thereto in the most advantageousmanner, and also in the position of said nozzle for exercising the mosteffective action with relation to the sand to be fed.

It is also sought to produce a construction operating in a manner whichwill subject the device to the least possible degree of wear from thesand, and having little or nothing to get out of order, and which willalso be of a very inexpensive nature to manufacture.

With these general objects in view the invention will now be describedwith reference to the accompanying drawing illustrating one form ofconstruction which has been devised for embodying the improvements,after which those features deemed to be novel will be set forth anddefined in the appended claims.

In the drawing- Figure 1 is a central vertical section through a deviceconstructed in accordance with the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the improved device is constructedin the form of an attachment comprising a tubular member 2 for feedingthe sand from the sand box Specification of Letters latent.

Patented May 27,1919.

Renewed November 23, 1918. Serial No. 263,933.

or dome 4 and delivering such sand to a pipe connection 6 leading to thepoint where the sand is to be used, as for example, the rails ficientlytight to prevent moisture from ontering the dome to any objectionableextent.

The passage through the tubular member 2 is given approximately the formof a quadrant curving gradually downward from the level of the opening10 until the passage through the delivery end of said member assumessubstantially a true vertical in line with the pipe 6. At the receivingend, however, the bottom of said passage rises on a slight incline fromthe horizontal (as shown in Fig. 1) so as to retard somewhat themovement of the sand which collects in this end from the dome and servesto retain the sand in the mouth of the receiving end of the device untilthe vacuum action of the nozzle is exerted thereon as hereinafterexplained. At the opposite or delivery end of the tubular member,connection is made with the pipe 6 in such a manner as to maintain thebore of the passage at said connection uniform and leave no shoulders orabutments for the collection of sand.

In line with the vertical passage through the delivery end of the member2 and its pipe 6 is formed a nozzle chamber 14, preferably constructedintegral with the member 2, the nozzle passage 16 of which chamber 14 isarranged in position to discharge straight downward through saidvertical passage; and it is to be noted also that the discharge from thenozzle is at a level below that of the receiving end of said member 2. Apipe 18, communicating with any suitable source of compressed-air supply(as, for example, the main reservior of the train supply), is threadedinto the side of said chamber 14 above the nozzle passage 16 and below aclean-out plug 20 which is threaded into said chamber from the top andis also in vertical alinement with said nozzle passage and the verticalpassage through the delivery end of the member 2.

A clea'a l-out. passage 22 is also formed. in the horizontal portion ofthe tubular member 2 and provided with an opening 23 fitted with a plug24, the removal of which affords access directly to the-receiving end ofsaid member 2, the opening 23 for receiving said plug 24 being locatedto the rca r of the plug 20 and thus out of the way oi the latter so asnot to interefere inany way with the manipulation of plug 2001'- thecleaning of the nozzle chamber.

It will thus be apparent that an extremely simple but efficientarrangement and construction have been devised for carrying out.

the desired objects of the invention. Air beingv admitted under pressurethrough the pipe 18'and discharged down through the nozzle passage 16, avacuum or suctlon action is exerted on the receiving end of the sandpassage, with the result that the sand is pulled down over the curve insaid passage until it simply falls under the combined action of gravityand air current down through the pipe 6. This quadrant arrange ment andposition of nozzle below the initial ,level of the sand has proved thesimplest and most effective construction for inducing a sand flow with aminimum of wear as well as a minimum force of air. Theslight incline atthe receiving end of the passage shown in Fig. 1 serves to retain thesand from passing out by gravity or the jolting due to ordinaryvibration whenthe device is used on a locomotive. In many common formsof construction it is found that the nozzle is both difiicult to cleanand also subject to a great deal of wear due to contact with the sand,and such nozzles acting with a force feed also produce considerable wearon other parts of the device. In the present construction the nozzle ispractically entirely out of the path of the sand and contact therewithso that the wear on the nozzle is almost negligible and its life willequal that of the remainder of, the device; and since the feeding actionis, in the main, a vacuum or suction feed, the sand is not driven byforce against the other parts of the device, but is simply drawn downfrom its initial position until-subjected to gravity action which maythen be left to complete the feeding movement.

The form of nozzle is also such that it may be cleaned in the simplestmanner, without disconnecting the air pipe, by merely'removing the plug20 from the chamber 14 and inserting a wire through the passage 16.

The receiving end of the member 2 can be readily reached through theclean-out pas-' sage 22 by removing the plug 24, and the plugs 20 and 24are arranged so that the operation of either will not interfere withthat of the other; moreover, these plugs can be made to turnsufficiently freely so as not to require a wrench and at the same timeexclude any objectionable degree of moisture, since anyv moisturepassing these plugs will not reach the sand at the receiving end of thedevice but will simply pass down and out through the pipe (3. It will beunderstood that in opening the passage 22, this may be donewithoutshutting off the air, since air .will simply be sucked in through theplug opening 23 without affecting the sand in the recelving end of thedevice, and a wire or the like maybe used to loosen any coarseparticles, wet sand'or other obstruction which may be clogging saidreceiving end, and

such obstruction pulled away from said re- While the foregoingrepresents what is nowdeemed to constitute the preferred form ofconstruction, the right is reserved to all such formal changes ormodifications as may fairly fall within the scope of the appendedclaims.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A sanding device comprising a tubular member having a receiving endadapted to be attached to a sand box, the passage through said memberextending on a downward curve from the receiving end of said member tothe delivery end thereof, and an air nozzle associated with saiddelivery end of the member in position to discharge in a downwarddirection in line with the passage therethrough, the delivery end ofsaid nozzle being located out of the path of the sand flow and below thelevel of the receiving end of the member.

2. A sanding device as specified in claim 1, in which the passagethrough said receiving endinclines slightly upward in the direction ofthe sand flow through. said passage.

3. A sanding device as specified in claim 1, in which said nozzle isprovided with a clean-out plug in direct alinement with said passagethrough the delivery end of the tubular member.

4. A sanding device comprising a tubular formed with a nozzle chamberprovided wit a nozzle passage and a clean-out plug both in verticalalinement with the passage through the delivery end of said member, saidmember being also provided with a clean-out passage affording access tothe receiving end of said member and fitted with a plug displacedhorizontally from the line of .said nozzle and delivery passages forpermitting free manipulation of said first plug and cleaning of saidnozzle passage.

5. A sand device comprising a tubular member'having a receiving endadapted to be attached to a sand box, the passage through said memberbeing of approximately quadrant form curving downwardly with thereceiving end in approximately horizontal position, and an air nozzlelocated in position to discharge downwardly in line with the passagethrough the delivery end of said member, the bottom of the passageadjacent the receiving end of the member having a slight rising inclinefor retarding the flow of sand until drawn out by the action of the airnozzle.

In testimony whereof I hereto aflix my signature. 7

ALVA A. FRYER.

